Roundabout Papers - Penn State University

merchant, cabman, omnibus man—nay, diamond merchantand stockbroker. You can bargain for a guinea overthe price of a diamond necklace, or for a sixteenth percent in a transaction at the Stock Exchange. We all knowmen who have this faculty who are not ungenerous withtheir money. They give it on great occasions. They aremore able to help than you and I who spend ours, andsay to poor Prodigal who comes to us out at elbow, “Mydear fellow, I should have been delighted: but I havealready anticipated my quarter, and am going to askScrewby if he can do anything for me.”In this delightful, wholesome, ever-novel twopennygame, there is a danger of excess, as there is in everyother pastime or occupation of life. If you grow tooeager for your twopence, the acquisition or the loss ofit may affect your peace of mind, and peace of mind isbetter than any amount of twopences. My friend, theold-clothes’-man, whose agonies over the hat have ledto this rambling disquisition, has, I very much fear, byRoundabout PapersI stood out,” he thinks, “I might have had the hat forthreepence,” and he doubts whether, having givenfourpence for it, he will ever get back his money. Mygood Shadrach, if you go through life passionately deploringthe irrevocable, and allow yesterday’s transactionsto embitter the cheerfulness of to-day and tomorrow—aslief walk down to the Seine, souse in, hats,body, clothes-bag and all, and put an end to your sorrowand sordid cares. Before and since Mr. Franklin wrotehis pretty apologue of the Whistle have we not all madebargains of which we repented, and coveted and acquiredobjects for which we have paid too dearly! Whohas not purchased his hat in some market or other?There is General M’Clellan’s cocked hat for example: Idare say he was eager enough to wear it, and he haslearned that it is by no means cheerful wear. There werethe military beavers of Messeigneurs of Orleans:* theywore them gallantly in the face of battle; but I suspectthey were glad enough to pitch them into the Jamesa too eager pursuit of small profits, disturbed the equanimityof a mind that ought to be easy and happy. “Had teers under General M’Clellan in his campaign against Rich-* Two cadets of the House of Orleans who served as Volunmond.288